Tony Moss, president of Greater Queensland Bank, received an anonymous note in his mail stating that a bank employee was making bogus loans. Moss asked the bank’s internal auditors to investigate the transactions detailed in the note. The investigation led to James Guy, manager of a North Queensland branch office and a trusted 14-year employee who had once worked as one of the bank’s internal auditors. Guy was charged with embezzling $1.83 million from the bank using 67 phony loans taken out over a three-year period.

Court documents revealed that the bogus loans were 90-day notes requiring no collateral and ranging in amount from $10,000 to $63,500. Guy originated the loans; when each one matured, he would take out a new loan, or rewrite the old one, to pay the principal and interest due. Some loans had been rewritten five or six times.

The 67 loans were taken out by Guy in five names, including his wife’s maiden name, his father’s name, and the names of two friends. These people denied receiving stolen funds or knowing anything about the embezzlement. The fifth name was James Vane, who police said did not exist. The Social Security number on Vane’s loan application was issued to a female, and the phone number belonged to a North Queensland auto dealer.

Lucy Fraser, a customer service representative who consigned the cheques, said Guy was her supervisor and she thought nothing was wrong with the cheques, though she did not know any of the people. Marcia Price, head teller, told police she cashed cheques for Guy made out to four of the five persons. Asked whether she gave the money to Guy when he gave her cheques to cash, she answered, “Not all of the time,” though she could not recall ever having given the money directly to any of the four, whom she did not know.

Guy was authorized to make consumer loans up to a certain dollar limit without loan